A related art image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction printer including copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile functions, forms an image on a recording medium (e.g., a sheet) according to image data. The sheet is typically stored in a paper tray provided in the image forming apparatus and is supplied from the paper tray to an image forming mechanism for forming an image on the sheet with a developer such as ink or toner.
The related-art image forming apparatus can be provided with a plurality of the paper trays to handle sheets of various sizes. However, when a user wants the image forming apparatus to form an image on a sheet having a particular size and the sheet having the particular size is not stored in any one of the plurality of the paper trays, the user needs to replace sheets in one of the plurality of the paper trays with the sheet having the particular size, resulting in a reduced user-friendliness.
To address this problem, the related-art image forming apparatus may further be provided with a bypass tray for handling the sheet having the particular size which is not stored in the plurality of the paper trays and special sheets including thick paper and OHP (overhead projector) transparencies. The bypass tray is generally opened from a side of the image forming apparatus. To properly set a sheet on the bypass tray, the user inserts the sheet into the bypass tray and moves side fences provided on the bypass tray so that the side fences regulate the sheet on the bypass tray. However, when the sheet is not properly set (e.g., when the sheet is not regulated in a main scanning direction), the sheet may not be properly sent from the bypass tray and may be skewed or jammed while the image forming mechanism forms an image on the sheet.
An improved mechanism for supplying sheets from a bypass tray is needed.